Player Information

How do I participate in the Catan National Championship Tournaments?

There are a number of different entry points to join into the Catan Championship Tournament community. These tournaments are called Qualifiers. These Qualifiers are hosted at either a convention or at a retail store. If you want to join a Qualifier, consult our handy listing to see what is still available near you on our map. You will need to contact the Qualifier Hosts directly to see how you can participate with them.

Each of these qualifying tournaments allow for you to compete against the best players in your region, and ultimately to see who will make it to the Catan National Championship.

The winner of each Catan National Qualifier will have special Catan-themed prizes and a guaranteed spot at the Catan National Championship in their country. At the National Championship, all Qualifier winners will face off against each other, to become the year’s Catan National Champion. Every two years, the National Champions are sent to the Catan World Championship tournament to represent their country.

*Note* You must be 18+ years of age and a Citizen or Legal Resident of your respective countries to compete in any Catan National Championship event, even at the store/convention level.

If you have already won a Qualifier, you may not play in any other Qualifiers. If you have won and play in another Qualifier, you will be banned from the Catan Tournament program.

How Does a Catan National Championship Qualifier Work?

As a player, you will be work your way through three groupings: the preliminaries, the semi-finals, and the finals for events with more than 24 players. If the Qualifier has less than 24, you compete in the preliminaries and the final.

The first group in a Catan tournament is called the preliminaries. The preliminaries are a series of three separate games of Catan. The scores that you can earn from preliminaries determine if you will move to the semi-finals.

Depending on who is hosting the qualifier, they may run as many as three preliminaries on different dates. If you are unsatisfied with your score in one preliminary you may return to compete in any or all of the other preliminary groups.

After all games in the preliminaries have been completed, your rank will be based on your best score from all the preliminary groups and compared to all other player scores in the qualifier, the top 16 players will move to the next level grouping – the semi-finals.

The 16 semi-finalists are divided into 4 separate tables (4-players per table) an assigned to tables based on ranking, which can be found in the Official Rules. Each table plays 1 game of Catan. If you win in one of these 4 games you advance to the finals.

The four semi-final winners advance to the finals. You play a single game of Catan, and if you are the winner of that final game you are knighted and are guaranteed a spot at the Catan National Championships (location dependent on country host).

How Does the Score work in the Preliminaries?

You scores points in the preliminaries based on your performance in each game you play. Scores come from the total of three games. Each win determines rank. Ties between players with the same number of wins in the preliminaries is determined by the cumulative points from the three games that the tied players participated in. If need be, the rank between tied players with the same cumulative points is determined by how soundly players have beaten their opponents.

As an example: Margaret has won 2 games (10 points each) and in her third game she scored 7 points so she has a total score of 27. Maxwell has won 2 games and scored 5 points on one of his games so he has a total score of 25. B.J. also won 2 games and 5 points for a total of 25 points, but in both of his games he won quickly before the people playing at his tables could make more than 5 points. Radar won 1 game and scored 9s on his other games for a total score of 28.

When ranked Margaret, Maxwell, and B.J. each won 2 games and despite Radar accumulating more points the number of wins matter the most. Margaret has the most points among the tied players. Maxwell and B.J. have tied points, but B.J. had a higher differential between his score and his table’s score. The ranked players are as follows: 1st Margaret, 2nd B.J., 3rd Maxwell, 4th Radar.

What Happens when I win the Qualifier

Your Qualifier host will send your name/email when they report the results to us. We will reach out with all the information you need to know and what to expect at the Catan National Championship of your country. You should book your transit and hotel as soon as you can when you receive the confirmation.

If you win your country’s Catan National Championship, you will be sent to the Catan World Championship by your country’s Host. The 2019 winner and the 2020 National Champions will compete at the Catan World Championship, location to be announced at a later date.